With “Avatar,” the stage was set for James Cameron to repeat his “Titanic” performance. Once again, he had silenced his critics by producing a box-office record-setter that was once considered a “troubled project.” Plus, “Avatar” had gotten plenty of awards-season love.

Instead, “Avatar” won only three of nine possible Oscars, compared to “Titanic’s” 11 (with 14 nominations). Since all three were in the technical categories  art direction, cinematography and visual effects  there were no “still king of the world” speeches last night. Just shots of Cameron smiling graciously from his seat.

That seat happened to be right behind Kathryn Bigelow’s, so he got a good view of “The Hurt Locker” parade to the microphone. Give him credit  he seemed genuinely happy that his ex-wife won the director Oscar.

Of course, cynics might say he has, oh, about 700 million reasons to be gracious. Meanwhile, “The Hurt Locker,” reportedly made for about $15 million, has barely broken even so far.

Some more Oscar notes  likes, dislikes and misc.:

Things I liked

 The Martin/Baldwin team: No, they weren’t exactly Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis (for starters, they appeared to be sober), but Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were funny co-hosts. Yes, maybe their comic timing was hurt a bit by having to read lines off a teleprompter (as Roger Ebert pointed out), but they made me laugh. I wanted more of them. And their “Paranormal Activity” spoof was a hoot.

 Better camera work: I was used to seeing two kinds of shots  the folks at the podium, and reaction shots in the crowd. So it was good to see side shots and closeups during acceptance speeches. What a concept.

 Keeping it short: The show ended precisely at 11 p.m. 3 1/2 hours isn’t bad for a show that often pushed the four-hour mark.

 New faces in the crowd: Tyler Perry? Really? (He was one of the “Precious” backers). He even mentioned from the podium how strange it felt to be there. And that’s what Pedro Almodovar looks like! Nice hair! And T Bone Burnett looked delightfully out of place.

 Animated interviews: Instead of the obligatory clips, the animated-film nominees were presented interview-style, with “Coraline” complaining about her mother and the “Up” talking dog blocking the camera and knocking the poster off next to a seated Carl Fredricksen.

 Meryl Streep: Talk about a gracious presence. She laughed heartily at all the jokes at her expense, including Steve Martin (who worked with her in “It’s Complicated”) mentioning her collection of Hitler memorabilia and Sandra Bullock describing her as her new lover. All this despite having to wait three hours to find out she didn’t win.

Things I didn’t like so much

 The song-and-dance intro: As I watched Neil Patrick Harris do his best Billy Crystal imitation surrounded by scantily-clad showgirls, I thought, “Is this Hollywood or Vegas?” It wasn’t bad so much as out of place.

 No Best Song performances: Some years, when this category was dominated by faux-Broadway ballads, this wouldn’t be a problem. This year, though, we had “The Weary Kind” from “Crazy Heart” and two Randy Newman tunes from “The Princess and the Frog.” I wanted to hear “The Weary Kind” all the way through, not just a snippet in a clip.

 Weird Best Score scene: The nominees for Best Original Score were accompanied by … a break-dancing troupe?

 Abrupt ending: I’m all for keeping it short, but the producers had Tom Hanks announce the Best Picture winner as if they had planes to catch or parties that couldn’t wait. After 3 1/2 hours of buildup, Hanks hurried out, opened the envelope and announced “The Hurt Locker” just seconds after Bigelow had received her directing award. She had barely left the stage. No recap or anything; not even a quick runthrough of the 10 nominated films.

Misc.

 We’ll probably never know, but the new scoring system must have hurt “Avatar.” I’m guessing lots of folks took the advice of the disgraced “Hurt Locker” producer who urged them to rank “Avatar” 10th, increasing “Hurt Locker’s” chances of getting more second- and third-place votes.

 Saw an ABC promo with Baldwin and Martin in which Baldwin talked about how they really weren’t rivals and that he admired Martin’s work, to which Steve replied, “And I thought you were great in ‘Backdraft.’ ” “That was my brother, Billy,” he responded tartly.

That was good, but it could have been so much better. Here’s the promo I would have liked to have seen: Martin responds, “And I thought your ass looked great in ‘It’s Complicated.’ ” “Uh, Steve, that ass wasn’t mine. That was a stunt butt.” Hilarious.

 Nice to see the late Stephen Bruton get a mention from Jeff Bridges and Ryan Bingham when they accepted Best Actor and Original Song awards, respectively.

 The AMC Huebner Oaks multiplex has a chance to make chicken salad out of, uh, you know. The theater, which can’t show the same movies as the nearby Fiesta 16 because of territorial restrictions, often keeps movies long after their box-office potential has been exhausted. For once, this could work in its favor  five of the 10 Best Picture nominees are still playing there  “Avatar,” “The Blind Side,” “Up in the Air,” “An Education” and “Precious.” Plus “A Single Man,” which earned Colin Firth an acting nod.

And if that’s not enough, a couple blocks away, the Fiesta 16 is showing “Crazy Heart,” “The Last Station” and “The White Ribbon” (the foreign-film nominee from Germany). You can also catch Stanley Tucci’s ultra-creepy turn as the killer in “The Lovely Bones,” although after his reaction to the clip last night (he shook his head, ruefully), I’m not sure even Tucci wants to sit through it.